Editorial: Joe Biden’s ‘It’s On Us’ Pitt visit will prompt action

When thousands of Pitt students file into the Petersen Events Center next week to see Vice President Joe Biden speak, they’re subject to more than just his political views.

They’ll be listening to him talk about sexual assault.

Biden’s It’s On Us tour, a three-school trip that aims to bring awareness to sexual violence on college campuses, comes to Pitt April 5 — and simply because of the speaker’s fame and political prowess, the University community will flock to his speech.

The byproduct? People who typically might not find themselves at an event catered to raising awareness about on-campus sexual assault and stopping it will find themselves at the face of someone who’s worked for 21 years to end violence against women — a credible source, to say the least.

In 1994, then-Sen. Biden penned the Violence Against Women Act to end the scourge of domestic and campus assaults and hold perpetrators accountable. Throughout his career, Biden has kept a direct channel of communication between himself and hundreds of students, administrators, advocates and survivors in order to continue the fight against sexual violence.   

Biden’s presence on campus, mixed with his association with the It’s On Us campaign, will effectively spread the message to a population vaster than any anti-sexual assault rally organized by campus groups will garner.

Pitt has made concerted efforts to help raise awareness of sexual assault such as the 800-foot paper chain, designating November as Sexual Violence Awareness Month and training peer educators to give presentations on sexual assault through programs like Let’s RAVE and PantherWELL. 

But even when the school does its best to raise awareness and make positive policy changes, the problem of sexual violence on campus is insidious — a school can’t realistically ensure that every single student is actively working to prevent sexual violence on college campuses.

When all of the Pitt community has a role in preventing sexual assault through bystander intervention and asking for consent, it’s important that every student is able to participate in sexual assault prevention initiatives.

So, when Biden’s speech fills the ears of thousands of Pitt students next week, a portion of those students will surely be people who previously haven’t been exposed to sexual assault awareness efforts.

The mission to end sexual violence on our campus can’t be successful when only some of us are armed to fight it.